Heavy toll from crash

RESCUERS using cutting torches and cranes worked through the night to pull apart 14 coaches of a crowded train that went off the tracks in northern India, killing 23 people and injuring more than 80 others, officials said yesterday.

Two of the coaches piled on top of one another, while 12 others toppled off the tracks, said Arvind Kumar, a top official in Uttar Pradesh state, where the train derailed.

The Kalinga-Utkal Express was travelling to the Hindu holy city of Haridwar from the temple town of Puri.

One official accused the railways of negligence, saying cracks in the track had been seen a day before.